What Makes

BIG WAVES?

Big Waves works with organizations looking to take courageous steps to create a more socially, economically and environmentally just world.

Big Waves is based in K’jipuktuk (Halifax) in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia), the ancestral, unceded territory of the M’ikmaq People. Settlers and the M’ikmaq have lived in this territory under the provisions of the Peace and Friendship Treaties since 1760 and 1772. We are all Treaty People and have responsibilities to each other and this land.


There are many paths to a better future, but also many barriers.

To create a social, economic and environmental justice, we must think big and follow through with big actions. But sometimes we face inner obstacles to creating the future we want. Healing our society requires that we heal our organizations and ourselves.

What we do on a small scale will eventually have an impact on our larger world.


Big Waves is here to walk with you on this path.

We support leaders and organizations to address their inner obstacles, build skills and expand their imagination so that they can have the impact they want to have in the world.

Brook Thorndycraft portrait3

Brook Thorndycraft, MA, B.Ed., Q.Med, SEP

works from K’jipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia) as a Mediator, Somatic Coach, Adult Educator, Facilitator, and Organizational Consultant. She has many years’ experience in the areas of conflict transformation, organizational change, adult and experiential education, and relational leadership.

Brook Thorndycraft portrait3

Brook Thorndycraft, MA, B.Ed., Q.Med

works from K’jipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia) as a Mediator, Coach, Adult Educator, Facilitator, and Organizational Consultant. She has many years’ experience in the areas of conflict transformation, organizational change, adult and experiential education, and relational leadership.

Brook coaches people who want to develop their relational leadership skills and strengthen their capacity to engage in change from the inside out. She supports people to build their emotional intelligence, build their confidence and sense of empowerment, navigate conflict or upheaval, lead with authenticity and compassion, steward an organization through change, and become aware of their own use of power.


In the Workplace

With workplaces, Brook integrates a holistic approach to creating healthier and more impactful organizations. She offers Workplace Restoration, which is a comprehensive approach to restoring good workplace relationships after a major conflict, investigation, or other workplace trauma. She offers support, training, and mediation to teams going through transformation, or wanting to improve their workplace culture. Brook approaches workplace issues with a combination of cognitive, embodied and creative approaches rooted in conflict transformation, popular education and group process, systems theory, mindfulness, Deep Democracy, and Somatic Experiencing® to identify and address personal interpersonal and systemic patterns that get in the way of meaningful change.

Brook is a white queer person of Jewish, Austrian, and English ancestry. She brings many years of involvement in social justice work and organizing around issues including anti-racism and anti-oppression, prison justice, community healing, anti-poverty, sexual health, LGBTTIQ2SA issues, and migrant justice work. Brook comes to organizational work from a healing-centred perspective, recognizing both the individual and collective traumas that need to be healed and the importance of finding joy and connection. It’s not only about work. For her it can mean singing loudly or walking her dog on the beach.

Key training and certification:

  • MA. Adult Education and Community Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
  • Qualified Mediator, accredited through Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada
  • Somatic Experiencing Practitioner certification, Somatic Experiencing International
  • Advanced Workplace Restoration and Workplace Fairness Assessment, Workplace Fairness Institute
  • Deep Democracy Level 4, Lewis Deep Democracy

For more information (LinkedIn)

LINEAGE

While it is impossible to acknowledge all of the people and traditions who have influenced her development, the following are some of the key lineages, individuals, and communities who have nourished her practice.

SOLIDARITY STATEMENT

Big Waves is committed to being in solidarity with organizations making change for a more socially, environmentally, and economically just society. The following outlines a commitment to contribute financially to those that are doing the hard work to create a better world.